No. 12 Radcliffe Heavyweight Crew Outraces Local Rivals for Beanpot

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The No. 12 Radcliffe heavyweight crew won four of its five races, including a 6.2-second victory in the varsity eight, to retain the Beanpot and Beanpot team banner against local rivals Boston College, Boston University, MIT and Northeastern Saturday morning on the Charles River.

The Black and White varsity eight (4-0) opened its spring season in fine form, defeating all its local rivals for the fifth time in six years of Beanpot racing and helping Radcliffe capture its sixth straight team title. The second varsity eight and both varsity fours were also victorious, and the third varsity eight placed fourth.

Racing was made difficult for all four teams by a quartering tailwind that made the water choppier as the boats progressed farther down the course. The varsity eight, like the Radcliffe boats before it, started aggressively to take advantage of the more manageable conditions in the early part of the race. The Black and White went on to post a winning time of 6:25.9.

Second-place BU crossed in 6:32.1, followed by Northeastern in 6:38.3. The wins against the Terriers and Huskies kept the Allen-DeWolfe Trophy and Rowlands Cup, respectively, in Weld Boathouse for another year.

"Really, from top to bottom, everybody went out there and had a good performance to open the year, which is always nice to see," said head coach Liz O'Leary. "The varsity four A and the second varsity eight were particularly strong, but I thought everybody did a terrific job. All our boats got off to strong starts, which is what you have to do in messy conditions."

The second varsity eight and both varsity fours won by wide margins. The second varsity finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of the field in 6:34.2, after the varsity four A won by more than 10 seconds in 7:28.8 and the varsity four B was more than 12 seconds faster than its rivals with a time of 7:44.7.